Economic Association of Malawi (ECAMA) President Henry Kacheje has come out of his cocoon to trash President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika’s stand that he hate deadlines, saying ‘Malawians want a leader who takes deadlines seriously’.

Mutharika told Public Affairs Committee (PAC) delegates during a meeting held at Kamuzu Palace in the capital Lilongwe beamed live at state controlled television (MBC) that he hates deadlines.

“I really hate deadlines”, said Mutharika when responding to resolutions presented to him accompanied by deadlines one of it being reducing his Presidential powers.

Writing on his official facebook page, Kachaje said Mutharika does not realize that “employed” by Malawians to perform in a 5-year contract.

“The HE’s stance on “Transformative Leadership” and his hate for “deadlines”: We obviously need to agree on the definition and nature of transformative leadership. From the discussions, it seems the HE is very convinced his government is transforming this nation, and that is worrying.

“On the issue of “hating deadlines”, I am worried as a citizen who participated in the process of recruiting our current leadership. First, it seems our leaders don’t realise they are “employed” by Malawians to perform in a 5-year contract. That is already a deadline,” wrote Kachaje.

He added: “Secondly, they seem not to appreciate that we, the citizens, are the EMPLOYERS and the leaders are our EMPLOYEES. Surely, if I am employed to run a company and my employers give me some deadlines to perform certain tasks, and I respond to them in a board meeting, “I hate deadlines”, I don’t know if it would please them.

“Maybe next time we get another chance to employ new country leaders, let us be very explicit with them: “Malawi needs leaders who will take deadlines seriously”, otherwise, let us forget about achieving any meaningful socioeconomic transformation of this nation. But we should not give up.”

Turning to the meeting itself, Kachaje faulted the setting of the meeting, saying Mutharika’s government was not open for dialogue.

“From the onset, the mood seemed “confrontational”: The government side seemed very defensive and not open for real dialogue. My view is that as a nation, we need to hold an open discussion on the future direction of our nation. We will never progress if we remain defensive.

“PAC’s failure to “Engage” the leadership into a constructive dialogue: Maybe it was intimidating to PAC to see their “agenda” crashed before it was even presented. Nothing tangible came out of the meeting that will benefit the nation, really,” said Kachaje.

Meanwhile debate continues on the effectiveness of the meeting.